AL playoff hopefuls will continue a three-game series on Saturday night at Progressive Field with the Seattle Mariners visiting the Cleveland Guardians. Friday's series opener finished by a 6-1 score in favor of the Mariners, who cashed in as a -132 favorite. Seattle holds an AL Wild Card spot at 74-58, while the Guardians are narrowly clinging to the AL Central lead at 68-62.
These teams met just last weekend in Seattle, with the Mariners taking three of four.
The Mariners are currently on an unreal 45-19 run, and continued to give the Guardians all kinds of problems with another win on Friday night. Mitch Haniger recorded an RBI double in each of the first two innings, while Cal Raleigh launched homers in both the second and sixth.
Luis Castillo tossed six shutout innings in the win, allowing five hits and one walk while striking out four. Raleigh drove in four overall, while Ty France was on base twice including a double.
The Mariners are up a huge amount on the money line for the season while going 69-62 on the run line. Overs are 61-63-7 for the Mariners, with only one of their last five games going over the betting total.
Despite the strong season overall, Seattle is in the bottom 10 in scoring at 4.18 runs per game on a .700 team OPS. Seattle has an excellent pitching staff with a 3.65 combined ERA inclu ding a mark of 3.34 out of the bullpen.
Julio Rodriguez has been terrific as a rookie, posting an .804 OPS with 22 homers, 23 steals and 66 driven in. Eugenio Suarez has been a worthwhile offseason addition, posting a .787 OPS with 25 homers and 76 driven in.
Robbie Ray will take the mound for the 27th time, hoping to follow up a fantastic start against these same Guardians as he tossed seven shutout innings allowing three hits and no walks while striking out seven on Sunday. The 30-year-old struggled early in the year but has been lights out for several months now, going 11-8 with a 3.58 ERA and 180 strikeouts in 155.2 innings overall.
Utilityman Dylan Moore went down earlier in the week with a strained oblique, while catcher Tom Murphy has missed most of the year with a shoulder issue. Relievers Casey Sadler (shoulder surgery) and Ryan Borucki (strained flexor) are out.